In Fort Pierce, about three hours northeast of southwest Florida, researchers with Florida Atlantic University are trying to figure out what's causing the water problems in our area.
They've spent years collecting samples of blue-green algae – from Lake Okeechobee to the Kissimmee River, to the St. Lucie River and west down the Caloosahatchee.
They just published the results of the study this year.
“In freshwater lakes and rivers, phosphorus is generally considered to be the limiting nutrient, or the nutrient that is really controlling bloom dynamics,” FAU assistant research professor Malcolm McFarland explained. “But – in this case – nitrogen seems to be quite important as well."
That means that algal blooms aren't just fueled by things like agriculture. Human waste, researchers discovered, plays a major role as well.
They also found that the growth and development of the Orlando area has brought more algae problems south to Lake Okeechobee.
“With more people you have more waste, more fertilizers, more herbicides, more pets, more paved roads, more things leaking out of cars. It all builds,” FAU’s Rachel Brewton explained.
While water releases from Lake Okeechobee can fuel algal blooms in southwest Florida, the concern isn't just development and waste north of the big lake. The concern is also in our own backyard, because cities here – like Cape Coral – are growing too, and our waste also fuels the problem.
“It's the urban areas like Orlando and north of the lake, but it's along the coast as well where we have a lot of population,” McFarland explained. “So it's hitting from all sides, it seems."
When it comes to human waste, researchers say fewer septic systems could help limit the impacts.
Cape Coral, in particular, has a decades-long project underway to get people on city sewer and water. Good wastewater treatment facilities can also help limit the impact from human waste.
But when it comes to the big picture of water quality, the research team admits: there's no one easy answer.
“We manufactured the state in this way so that humans could live here, and then the biological systems didn't really like that. So now we're trying to reverse engineer sustainable environments,” Brewton explained.
“I think if we're all aware of the issues, we can work to address them together and that's really the best way to proceed,” McFarland said.